kyle, ila, & warren

A Little Bit of This and That from June

2011-07-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

So this is a quick picture update.....

I made a diaper bag for my sister-in-law Julie combining two patterns and measuring a pocket from another and came up with this

Hip Mama Diaper Bag

Pretty Bird Quick Trip Diaper Bag (thanks cynthia b)

A few other projects too....

We took Warren to fishing to the Spanish Fork Reservoir for Free Fishing Day. Everyone around us caught fish. Warren had fun throwing rocks in the water and playing in the rocky beach they have there. Kyle took me fishing here on one of first dates so it was fun to remember that and combine a new first time with Warren with a walk down memory lane.

We visited the Zoo with cousin Paden and got the cutest little picture of these boys. They had a great time together.

A family picture out in front, I guess this could be a 22 week pregnancy photo too.

We had a Johnson Family Reunion. We need to upload more photos of this from the other camera. Warren loved the tent and playing with his cousins, eating chips from the bag off the table and ground, and most of all being with Grandpa. Oh and of course he dragged froggy almost everywhere around camp, both got a good washin' after.

October 17th A Day to Look Forward too!

2011-06-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Warren is excited to have a little brother. He talks to him and gives him kisses every day. He shakes his head back and forth and says, "Baby, Baby," in a tender little voice. He'll then lift up his shirt and pat his tummy and say the same thing. Today he saw a picture of the ultra sound and ran to Kyle in the other room to show him the picture of the baby. He was so excited. We are very happy too. We are grateful for Warren and the laughter and joy that he brings into our lives and for this precious little boy on the way too.

Softball 2011

2011-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

I was able to find a men's softball team for Kyle to play on during BYU's Spring Semester. I overheard a friend in our ward mention that he was playing and so I called him to see if Kyle would be able to play on their team. We have usually had a ward team but weren't able to get one this year. The team had a spot for him. The team was also able to pick up another schedule too so double the games. Last week there were 4 games, 3 of them were played in the rain.

The team is really quite unique that he plays on. Half are deaf. One of his teammates along with being deaf is blind in one eye. It has been a wonderful learning experience of how to signal, call out, for fly balls and just to communicate in general. This has been Kyle's favorite season of playing softball.

The teams record in the regular season is best put this way 0 wins and the losses whose counting. The win column is filled with the reasons why I like intramurals, friendships, fun, and being active.

Tournament play began tonight. Warren and I went a were able to watch, I guess I should say catch small glimpses, of the game. Warren, of course, likes to explore, thinks that he deserves a turn to bat, likes to hang the bats on the net on the backstop, play with the balls and gloves, look for the airplanes in the sky, and hug his dad while he is waiting to bat.

If they won tonight they would play a second game. They WON the first game by forfeit! Warren and I arrived after they had began the second game. We had a nice walk over to the fields seeing all the buses, motorcycles, vans, bikes, and finding the "W" on a few signs for Warren. We are so glad that we went. I was able to see the team play really well today. The players bats were hot and they were also blessed a couple of times where the defenders appeared to have holes in their gloves. Kyle had 3 really great hits that we were able to see. A double was hit to left field near the left foul line, a double to center, and one to go down in history... a HOMERUN to left center, it almost made it to the parking lot (good thing it didn't or it would have been a double) it was a beautiful hit!!! He still can't believe he hit it that far. Their run in the tournament will continue, yeah for more time to develop friendships, more fun on the fields, and more time being active.

Easter

2011-05-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had fun having practice Easter egg hunts with Warren at our house. Kyle did a great job of training him, while I was cooking. Later that night we dyed eggs together. I am sure glad that there were 2 of us to help Warren.

We had a fun time together. Sunday we enjoyed spending time with Kyle's family for an Easter dinner.

Most of all at this time we are grateful to the Savior. President Monson read some words written by Emily Harris in his closing address of the April 2011 conference that I'll share with you.

The linen which once held Him is empty.
It lies there,
Fresh and white and clean.
The door stands opened.
The stone is rolled away,
And I can almost hear the angels singing His praises.
Linen cannot hold Him.
Stone cannot hold Him.
The words echo through the empty limestone chamber,
“He is not here.”
The linen which once held Him is now empty.
It lies there,
Fresh and white and clean
And oh, hallelujah, it is empty. 1

Full talk click here.

Trip to Vegas

2011-05-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

When I was talking with my parents one night they informed me that they were going to Vegas to spend time with my brother down there. I invited myself and Warren so Kyle could work on school. The great thing was that school was ending and Kyle said that he would be able to come too. A mini family vacation.... This turned into a middle child family reunion.

We arrived Thursday evening, where we stayed at my brother John's house.

Friday, we went to the hotel where my other brother, Sam, and his family had stayed and we played at the pool. Warren started to like the water it was great! He had a fun time playing with his cousins. Kyle stayed back at the house and worked on his application to work as an ESL teacher at Snow College.

Saturday, we went to watch my brother in the triathlon. When we arrived at Lake Mead we saw him pedaling towards us and then we saw him run across the finish line. It was fun to watch. I have always been on the participating side of events and found it rewarding to see all of those who were competing finish and think of all the hard work and training that they put in prior to the event. We then headed down towards the lake to play.

Later on that day Julie, Sam's wife brought a fun Easter craft for the kids to do. Decorating foam eggs and paper wreaths with chicks, eggs, bunnies, etc...

Sunday, went to church and then after that and lunch we headed back to Utah. We really enjoyed our trip and our looking forward to our family reunion this summer. We are excited to meet our newest little nephew that will be coming soon.

April 11th

2011-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary married over a three week time period. On the 11th, for FHE we talked about the temple and looked through our pictures of our wedding day. We found out my parents were going down to Las Vegas so we decided to go too, I'll write more on that later. On the 29th we went and did sealings at the temple and on the 30th Kyle surprised me with 12 dozen roses and then we went to dinner. Thanks to Stephanie (Kyle's sister) and the Hansen's (we won their awesome baby sitting services from a ward auction) who watched Warren. He had a wonderful time both days. Thanks to our wonderful mother who gave us a gift card to Applebee's for Christmas too.

New Orleans

2011-04-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

We went to New Orleans a few weeks ago for a TESOL conference that Kyle was going to. Warren and I came along for the ride. Warren loved his plane ride... the light buttons, the air conditioning, opening and shutting the window, the hearts on the back of the chairs, putting the tray tables up and down, the treats, trying some soda "Sick!" but a second later "More!", climbing on mom and dad etc. Mom and Dad were busy on the entertaining side of things and no deep naps for us. The passengers who sat next to us were really kind to him and some who were near entertained him with a smile or two.

On our first day, while Kyle went to the conference Warren and I went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, here are a few photos of us there.

Warren enjoyed seeing the fish and the large sharks that they have in the entrance. I would have to say his favorite part of the trip was going down the slide and climbing up the net.

Later when Kyle came home we went for a walk around New Orleans and ate at Dragos they are known for their oysters but we decided not to try them. The food that we ate was really good. We had some delicious fresh fruit, A Shrimp Po' Boy, and Shrimp Pasta.

Above Warren is putting pepper on his saltine crackers, yum.

Dragos is located in the Hilton and this is what Warren and Kyle found on our way back to our hotel so we pretended to play for a little bit.

The next day of the conference, St. Patrick's Day, Warren and I went to the Louisiana Children's Museum. We had SO much fun! I loved playing with him and watching him discover. He loved pretending to be a fireman and driving the truck, playing in the bubble blowing/making area, climbing the stairs, playing in the toddler area, and so much more. Some day we'll need to go to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake. I only have two pictures from there because we were having so much fun together.

When Kyle came home from the conference we went to Mother's Restaurant, one that our taxi driver recommended that we should go too. After we ate we went to go find the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Which took us to the French Quarter. That was a fun experience. St. Patty's Day, attire everywhere. Teaching elementary school I thought I saw kids decked all out in green... Wow, this took the cake it was so fun to see so many people adults included go ALL out.

We decided not to stay to watch the parade because by the time it got to us it would have been late and so we decided to take a nice walk on the River Walk. It was beautiful. We loved watching the boats go by.

When we got to our hotel we watched March Madness, BYU vs. Wofford a great way to end a great day.

Before we drove off to Alabama, Warren and I took one last walk on the River Walk and found a Jester that Warren really liked that Kyle and he discovered the first day we were there. I forgot to mention that while we were in New Orleans he saw a train and each time we would go out he would asked to go see the choo-choo. He also wanted to find all the stairs. We had a great time!

One last story(the short version)... The room that we had had 2 doubles. I walked into the room and saw all of the fluffy down pillows on the bed and the down comforter and was so excited! I wanted to have one of the beds all to myself and enjoy sinking into a deep slumber. But....the hotel that we were staying in had a crib but the wheel was broken and was not available... Because Kyle had the conference and we wanted him to be well rested..... Warren and I shared the "big bed" as he called it, I was worried that he would fall off the bed because he rolls everywhere while he is sleeping. I was grateful that Kyle took Warren out the first morning that we were there so I could catch up on some missed sleep. It wasn't the best sleep but it was fun to be by our favorite little man. Warren was very possessive of our bed. One day Kyle was sitting on it and in his own little way "Dad, no!" I think he tried to push him or patted the bed that Kyle had slept on meaning Dad you sit here. Later when we went to my brother's house he wanted to sleep in the "big bed" and not the pack and play.

Trip to Alabama

2011-03-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Jen posted some great pictures and about our trip to Alabama she gave me permission to use her post. I thought she did a great job of capturing the moment so here it is...

Ila (Gordon's Sister), Kyle, and Warren came and visited us for the weekend. We had a wonderful time with them. Gordon picked them up from New Orleans on Friday. Friday night we took them to the neighborhood pool. It was the first time back at the pool this season and the water was freezing. The boys didn't seem to notice and had a blast making water balloons and playing in the water.

Saturday we went to Pensacola and enjoyed the gorgeous emerald blue water and the perfect sugar sand beach. It took us a while to even get to the beach since MANY others had the same idea. Traffic in Pensacola was terrible.

This was Warren's first time at the beach and Kyle's 3rd time. We enjoyed the waves, the sand, and just being together. For dinner we ate at our favorite restaurant called Flounders. Kyle and Ila enjoyed trying the seafood dishes while on their trip. Flounders has a great variety of delicious seafood. I wasn't a seafood lover until I went to Flounders and tried their Mahi Mahi. It is so delicious. After Flounders, we walked around the pier and enjoyed some ice cream while watching the BYU game.

Sunday we enjoyed a lovely day at church together. I was able to attend RS with Ila. I hadn't attended RS in years since being called into primary and nursery. Later that evening we enjoyed a walk together around the neighborhood. They also enjoyed picking out some of their favorite Mardi Gras throws from our stash.Monday we went to Biloxi and went to the beach there. We were quickly reminded that the beach is NOT the place to go while in Biloxi. Pensacola is so much nicer because the water is turquoise and the sand is clean where Biloxi the water is murky brown and the sand is littered with trash. We decided to go have a picnic at a park there. This was much more enjoyable. Gordon then took Kyle, Ila, and Warren on to the New Orleans airport.

We were all so sad to see them go. We had so much fun visiting with them. Warren and Bryson played so well together. Warren is a very good talker and is almost 2. I loved when he reminded Bryson to "share" his toys with him. One time he wanted my cell phone to play with and he said "Jen share." It was so cute.

Thanks Jen for the post:)

PG League

2011-03-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

We took 2nd place in the tournament this year. It was our own little version of March Madness, which we can call Fantastic, Fabulous, Fun February. My highlight of the year was having races after the game with the cute little girl in the pink pjs in the background:)

Thankful For...

2011-02-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today I am thankful for my visiting teachers and Stephanie. Today when Warren was supposed to be napping and me enjoying my visiting teachers, he was playing in his bed... "He'll go to sleep soon..." Right as they were going to share a message he started to cry so I thought I better go check on him. I went into the room and see little tears running down his face, brown hands and legs, no diaper on, a small square of the wall with little brown hand prints, and brown smeared splotches on his blankets and pack and play. "We probably we won't be having a message today," I say as I come out of his room holding him away from me. Bless their hearts they offered to help by bathing Warren, while I started cleaning the walls and getting his things ready to wash. Broke the new visiting teachers in pretty well:)

Stephanie was so kind to let us borrow their pack and play while the one that Warren uses airs out from being washed down. Jocelyn helped me wipe it down too. It was really fun to clean with her. Stephanie also was so kind to let us come and wash Warren's bedding and hang out with their family tonight. Thank you, Thank you!

Oh the joys of unplanned events and the blessings of family and friends.

And one more thank you to my mother-in-law whose helping hands showed me how to can chicken which we used to make chicken salad for some sandwiches. The meat is so tender and absolutely delicious! Thank you!

Coupons

2011-02-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

I guess my introduction to couponing happened one day while I was in Smith's and I saw a lady with computer printout with a shopping list and asked her about it. She gave me the website for Savvy Shopper Deals. We decided that for an enrichment activity we would invite Amy "The Savvy Shopper" to tell us how we could save on our monthly grocery bill (2008). This is huge when you are a newly married couple, going to school, working little, paying rent etc. Even later with more kids and more payments it will still be a big thing to save a little here and there on your grocery bill. It does take time but I would say it is worth it. I didn't get into full blown couponing at that time I was teaching, working on IEPs etc. and mostly justI used the Savvy Shopper website to find where the best deals were around town and clipped the coupons from my parents newspaper. Warren was born in May 2009 and in August/September a representative from the Boys & Girls Club came by selling a Sunday/Thursday subscription for $25 for the year SWEET! One of the best deals out there (During Christmas they did a promotion for $20, that is for The Daily Herald) We ended up with 2 subscriptions one under my name and the other under Kyle's name) Then the paper from my parents (they usually suggest having one copy per person in your household. (We now have 6 you can get more stuff.)I guess full blown we have been couponing for 16 months. Do I use all the coupons I get never. How do I feel about that, just fine. I'll admit it there are a lot of coupons out there that are for stuff that I'll never buy. There however, many coupons that I can and will use that make a difference. For example this week after rewards I got 4 bottles of Johnson's baby lotion/wash, 1 package Huggies diapers, 4 Sucrets Lozanges, 4 Mentos for a little over $2.00 with $18.00 to be used at Rite Aid on my next purchases. Pretty Sweet. I was able to stock up for future baby showers, my Mom likes the Sucrets, Mentos were free, and who doesn't need diapers on hand. ($10.00 of coupons from the newspaper used nearly paying my subscription. I had a $2.50 coupon from Huggies from the mail, and used a $10 gift certificate I received from Rite Aid and 2 of their online coupons one for Huggies and $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase.) On my way home I stopped at a different Rite Aid and bought 1 Johnson's shampoo, 6 more Sucrets, 2 Playtex tampons, 1 Desitin. ($12.00 of coupons from the paper) I used my $16 rewards from my last purchase total out of pocket (opp) a little over $2.00 with $20 in rewards to spend at Rite Aid the next time I go. (subscription paid for) I think I might get another package of diapers on the way home from a basketball. I never knew that Rite Aid would become one of my favorite stores to shop at. (baby items, hair care, personal care, dental, even some food items, paper products, office supplies, medicine, cleaning, etc.)

One of my friends posted this on her blog so this is what she wrote about COUPONING 101...(Bolded additions are my little thoughts)

1. Subscribe to a newspaper. I know lots of people who don't want to pay for a newspaper and so get their coupons online. This is fine, but you won't be able to get the full benefits of coupons if you don't have a newspaper coming to your house. The best coupons are usually in the newspaper. And stores are more likely to coupon match with a newspaper coupon versus a printed coupon.

2. Think about getting multiple copies of the newspaper I currently get 2 copies of the Sunday paper every week. When we were in Provo, I received 3. The more copies you have the more you can save. I suggest looking for the cheapest Sunday newspaper in your area which offers coupons and seeing what deals they have for buying multiple copies each week. Often there are deals for becoming a new subscriber. For instance, in our area, you can get the newspaper for $1 a week when you're a new customer. So, I signed up under my name and Troy's name :) We get TWO Sunday newspapers each week for $8 a month. If you're worried about another monthly fee, let me tell you this: you will always, ALWAYS, make back the money paid out for newspaper and this usually happens in one shopping trip. I easily save the $8 many times over with my coupon shopping deals in a month. I promise you, it's worth the price.The benefit of having more than one copy of each coupon is that when the item goes on sale, you can REALLY stock up. For instance, say you can buy your favorite cereal this week on sale. The cereal is on sale for $1.00 a box, but you have a $1.00 of two box coupon which means you're getting two boxes at $0.50 a box. Amazing! Look at you saving money :) Now if you have multiple copies of the newspaper, you'll have TWO or THREE copies of that coupon and so you'll be getting FOUR or SIX boxes of that cereal you love at the ridiculous price of $0.50 a box. Even MORE amazing!! Multiple copies of each coupon help you stock your shelves and stock them good. Right now, two copies are doing us just fine. I might consider going down to one copy in the future. But you just have to weigh the cost benefit for your individual family and see what you think. Maybe you want to start with one copy and then as you go you can add. The savings is exponential with multiple copies.

3. Find a FREE online coupon service. A coupon service matches the coupons with the grocery sales for you. This way your brain doesn't have to explode doing all of that matching yourself. The coupon service will also tell you just how good of a deal you're getting. Each item is usually given a rating depending on how much you are saving (how much % off.) This has helped me IMMENSELY with getting to know what's a good deal and what's not. That was something that was really hard for me when we first got married. I never knew if the price was good enough for me to start stocking up on something. Now, after looking at coupon service sites for a couple years, I'm pretty good at knowing when the items I buy are on a rocking sale and I should probably buy the whole shelf. (And sometimes I really do :)There are plenty of sites that will charge you to offer this service. However, if you're willing to sacrifice a little and work with a less pretty website, you can find just as many people who offer the same information for FREE. Free is always better.While we were in Provo I used Savvy Shopper Deals via the Daily Herald (Utah county newspaper). Amy is the one who runs it. She came to an enrichment in my ward and got me hooked. You can go there and watch some video tutorials that will be helpful to get you started. The best is the "shopping wizard" which is a super user friendly shopping list that you use to make your own personalized shopping list to keep you organized before going to the store. This site was great for P-town, and I still use it sometimes for national stores like Target and Walgreens, but for your every day grocery stores, I needed something else. Thus I foundGrocery Smarts. It's the same idea and it's also free. The list is more ghetto than Savvy Shopper Deals, but that's okay, I'll take free :) It's also available in many states. I use this weekly to get me some awesome deals. Because I don't like the way this site prints your shopping list, I have created an excel file which I use each week. It's not very fancy at all. I just have sections with the stores I go to often. Then I look up each store individually on Grocery Smarts and copy and paste the items I want to buy into the excel list. Having all the stores and items on one page helps me be more organized, which is the next tip... (There are a lot of blogs out there which will tell you the deals I like to look at them too because sometimes they will figure out how to make your shopping transactions. I like the Savvy Shopper site because it can organize your shopping list for you for all the stores)

4. Get organized. Whether it be with a binder or a filing system for your coupons Savvy Shopper Deals shows you one way to organize is to use a binder with baseball card sheets to hold your coupons. (Melea from a blog Freebies2Deals shows some organizing techniques here)

5. Be Patient. You can do it! Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's important to understand something before you get into couponing. It is frustrating at first, it really is. Being organized is key, but even if you're really organized, it takes some getting used to. I remember being so frustrated at the store with Jackson crying and thinking about crying too as I stared at coupons and cereal boxes and got a headache. Then, not too much later, things started to click in my head. I became more organized and learned a few tricks and I walked into the store and I bought ten boxes of cereal for $0.68. Yes, $0.68!!!!!! It was the most thrilling thing ever. Not every week is like that, but I still get excited about my deals and can't wait to tell Troy how much money I saved. So, I promise, you can do it. Just be patient.Amy, from the Daily Herald, told us at our enrichment you should plan on 2 months to get all your coupons on file from when you start getting the newspaper. (This is because coupons rotate. Most companies always have a coupon out for a certain product. When it expires, a new coupon for the same product will usually come out the next Sunday.) And four months for your shelves to be stocked. After those four months, you will be able to stop buying things that you need, and just buy things that are on sale. And this is how you will be able to cut your grocery budget down BIG TIME. It takes a few months to have your shelves stocked with spaghetti sauce and pasta so that you'll have enough to keep you covered until those items go on sale with a coupon again. Does that makes sense? Then you just rotate through your food as you buy new stuff. It's an excellent form of food storage. I definitely don't have a year's supply of everything, but for a few things I do. Coupons helped me do it!Also on the subject of being patient. I've found to get the very best deals, you have to go to multiple stores. It's a pain, but it's how you get what's on sale. Saving $1.50 on milk each week adds up. So will all the savings from everything else. If going to more than one store is overwhelming for you, start by shopping at Walmart or Target where they will price match from other grocery stores. Just be sure to take those ads in with you so they can see them. If you have the ad, they are usually more than happy to give you the sale price.

So there you go-- Couponing 101. If you decide to do this, you will learn little tricks that help as you go. Here are a few of the ones I've learned that aren't listed above:

1- Going at the BEGINNING of the sale. Most grocery sales run from Wednesday to Tuesday. Going on Wednesday or Thursday is going to ensure that you have good selection. When I first started, I would sometimes go shopping on Tuesday night. Not a good idea. ESPECIALLY if you live in an area with a lot of couponers. You will be much more successful if you start early. (I usually can't make it on the days that they start the sales being a one car family, but find out when your store re-stocks their shelves and then you can get what you want, most of the time, if not there will be another sale.)

2- Get Rain checks. Sometimes rain checks are available right in your grocery line from the cashier. When the cashier asked if you found everything okay. Say no and tell them you'd like a rain check. Most rain checks last 30 days. Then you can come back then next week when the cereal isn't on sale and use your rain check to get the sale price, paired with your amazing coupon of course! :)(The Rite Aid in Provo is AWESOME, they'll call you when your rain check arrives at the store. Others you just need to come back and check and that works out too.)

3- If it's a really good sale and your store is completely out of what you want, you might consider going to another store location. I've done this and found which stores usually picked over, which stores are busy at certain times, and which stores are empty. It's helped me in the long run. Phew. I think that about covers it. I'm sorry for the long, long post. I just wanted to be thorough. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. (I wish I'd had a "coupon mentor" of sorts when I'd gotten started. As ridiculous as that sounds! Ha ha.) I'm happy to help because I feel like coupons have really made a difference in our family finances.

A tip I might ad is that sometimes you need a break. There will ALWAYS be another sale, ALWAYS!

Also don't be disappointed if you got something on sale one week and it goes on for less the next week, you have to tell yourself that you got it at the best deal for the week that you got it and still saved money!

"Wash Your Mouth Out with Soap"

2011-02-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Through coupons the past few months I was able to get a lot of trial size tide packets for free. These are great especially if you are like us and don't have a washing machine at your apartment. Instead of lugging a huge bottle of soap to the laundromat I take my cute little packets to wash(Though mom's and dad's is where we usually go). Another detergent that I like are tab style they are great for traveling light to do the wash too.

Last week after going to the wash some little boy decided that these cute little tabs were food and decided to test one out. We were so blessed to catch him in the act. He threw up on his own immediately, we called a pediatrician and told us to hydrate him and call her back in an hour to check and see if he was okay. Thankfully he was and hopefully he won't wash his mouth out with soap again. I'm not so sure I'm a fun of the little tabs anymore.

January

2011-02-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

It's nearly the middle of February and no posts this year. January in review....

It started with the New Year spent at home playing games (Rummikub & Parcheesi)

We spent the night at my parent's when Uncle Sam came.

That night sleep was a challenging one

because Warren thought climbing out of the playpen (bed) was really quite fun.

I ended up climbing in to lie down right next to him

It worked for a few hours though my knees were bent into my chin

He woke around five and four

Went down to the kitchen to find Uncle Bub asleep on the floor

We got a drink

From the little ol'e sink

Went down to the room for a little more sleep

It worked for a tiny bit without making a peep

Around six or so we got up once more

Thank goodness for grandpa who came to the door

He took his little buddy down to the playroom and basement

While to the bedroom I happily went

Not wanting to disturb the king of the bed

I happily climbed in the playpen to rest my sleepy head

A few more hours of sleep were preciously spent

Until the cute little nieces voices went

As she came into the room she was wondering what I was doing in Warren's bed

I told her I needed a place to rest my little head

She smiled and laughed and thought that was fun

To see Aunt Ila in a bed made for someone that is one

Bless her heart she had been on Warren duty too.

Thank you Sierra you deserve new princess/basketball shoes

Kyle has been working on his project of course

And being Warren's favorite horse

A little more b-ball here and a little there

Clipping the coupons and shopping with them everywhere

Warren's starting to say a few phrases which is cute

He's becoming quite a tease and is a hoot

At the end of the month we went and house sat

And became substitute parents for 4 boys, 1 girl, a dog and a cat

Warren loved his new friends, the dog, and the kitty

That cat got a great workout running away from a boy who thought it was so pretty

I learned about some roles that will start in at least 3 or more years

The taxi driver, homework regulator, piano general, a new perspective for my eyes and ears

My sweet mother-in-law helped me bottle some chicken

We know it will be good and finger licken'

Bless her heart she finished it for us when we had to go

Poor little Warren was tuckered out falling asleep in a chair watching roll over and other songs you might know

Kyle enjoyed his commute everyday

And read stories each night to the princess as she drifted away

That about sums up our January

Oh what adventures that make our lives merry.

Thankful For...

2010-12-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

If you don't live in Utah click here to check out what happened in Utah last night. Warren and I had travelled over to Spanish Fork to hang out with Gma. and Gpa. and the cousins. We were going to stay till about 7:30 or so and then go pick up Kyle from campus. My dear friend called and asked if we could watch her little boy and her sister's little boy around 6:15. We said yes and as we got on the freeway the storm was just started to hit Utah County. The roads were pretty slick from the storm the day before and this made for a slow commute home. I was grateful that Warren had fallen asleep so he didn't get antsy. We were almost home and turning left from 300 South onto 400 East when we slid off the road and landed in the gutter (mini ditches) and bumped a large tree and thankfully we weren't going fast. A good samaritan passed by and asked if we needed help. He gave me his jacket and looked at our options to get us out. We decided to try it. He pushed on the front end and got us partially out. A neighbor came out of his apt. and offered his help too. With both of them pushing we got out. I was so grateful for these kind young men who helped us out and grateful that we were able to drive out of there with no scratches on us and just a little ding on the car. I didn't end up watching my friend's little boys but we got home before the major damage happened on the roads. Thank you again to our good helpers.

When's Dinner

2010-12-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

My mom had a birthday dinner for my dad and I. Look who's ready to eat. The food was wonderful! It was like a pre-Thanksgiving meal.

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Warren Stats

2010-12-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

Our handsome little man is 19 mo. weighing in at 22 lbs. and almost a yard tall (he's 32 in.). He loves Nursery. He loves music, some of the songs he requests to sing are "Rock," (The Wise Man and the Foolish Man) "Happy,"(Happy and You Know It or H-A-P-P-Y) "Rollover,"(10 in the Bed) "Bubble,"(Tiny Tim: The Turtle Song) "Pop," (Popcorn) "Monkey," (Five Little Monkeys) and "Sisiy"(I'm not quite sure how he says it.. Eency Weency Spider). We don't usually make it through one song after singing a line or two he'll request another song so I call all the songs he loves the Warren Medley.

Just like every little one he loves going places he shouldn't and enjoying new heights.

Coloring and playing with stickers.

Playing with balls throwing them or carrying them up the stairs...

and

Fitting in small spaces.

Last night he woke up around 2 am (I didn't hear that one) 4 am (I did hear this one)... At first I said to myself, "Why are you awake you should be sleeping..." I ended up holding him and rocking him to sleep enjoying this peaceful moment with him and dreaming of a wonderful nap. Love you Warren.

Christmas

2010-12-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve night up at the Johnson's home. I thought Warren would be a little more interested in opening presents this year. He is not quite there yet. Everyone had to open a gift before he decided that this could be a pretty cool thing. Gpa. J. sat behind Warren to be his helper. Warren started to rip small pieces of the paper from the gift handing them to Grandpa and then saying, "Thank you." He made it about a 1/3 of the way down and got distracted by this--------------------->

Yes, Nerf guns. He loved sticking the little Nerf darts into the barrel. Because of his disinterest in opening his presents I have his Valentine's Day gift (a book) for him already and a coloring book & puzzle for next year.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed being together with both of our families.

Royal Oaks II Gingerbread Construction

2010-12-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2010

We had a wonderful time making gingerbread houses with our neighbors.

Warren had a great time sampling candy from not only our house (Kyle did a wonderful job!), but everyone else's house as well. He was on the candy prowl, especially the M & M's.

The Lunts with their lovely home.

The Fitches with their winter wonderland house.

The Larsens with the bears peeking out the window to welcome their cousins.

and

The James with the chocolate chip roofing.

I had a fun time baking the homes before. I loved the holiday smell the gingerbread houses brought to our apartment. It was amazing. Kyle helped out by trimming the hot houses when they came out of the oven. Warren helped out by taking long naps.

2010-12-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun video of several family members dancing to the Wii Just Dance game. Of course Warren is the primary star. ;) Enjoy.

Highlights

2010-11-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

Sept.

Kyle's birthday

Oct.

Warren's first BYU football game

Ward Halloween Party: we were all frogs

Trip to Vegas: Hanging out with cousins and being great helpers to Uncle John and Grandpa while they put in the sprinklers.

Trunk or Treating with the cousins

Nov.

Went to Jordan River Temple, Memories of April 11, 2008

Took Kyle couponing... an awesome shopping trip

My birthday: awesome phone calls from family they are all so talented with their singing skills, visit from friends with special treats, birthday wishes at church (even passing a card around sneaking it by right under my nose), a birthday visit from another friend on Monday, and birthday wishes from fb buddies thank you for making it such a great day. My first video game (I never thought I'd ever get one, Warren and I dance every day)

Pictures of some events will come later;)

PS I almost forgot playing intramural women's and coed volleyball as well as coed bball

Peek a Boo, I'm Watching You

2010-08-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

Today I caught Warren trying to attach the nozzle of the pump to the valve of the tire. Earlier today he tried to comb his hair today too, so cute. A while ago he discovered where the mop, broom and dust pan were and started to mop, sweep, and just carry the dust pan around the house. Mom and Dad throw stuff away in this white bucket why can't I, the sippy cup today, yesterday it was my visiting teachers white sandles, que verguenza, we had a good laugh at that one! It is truly amazing how observant these little ones are. He has said a couple more things like blueberry (I pulled out some grapes in relief society and he called them blueberries too) he is working on light. A swing is Weee or anything that rocks back and forth. We love watching him and are grateful that he was sent to our home:)

An Update on Our little Man

2010-07-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, we love our little screech who brings us a smile everyday:) He keeps us on our toes and moving things to higher ground. Warren took his first steps about a month ago after our trip to Vegas. This week he has really taken off it has been fun to see his balance and confidence improve each day.(He still prefers crawling.) I love it when he walks around flapping his arms or waving a toy/spoon(whatever he finds interesting at that moment). He his learning all the different sounds his voice box can make and today rediscovered during sacrament meeting that the chapel has a great echo and was squealing with delight then Kyle quickly walked out the chapel doors. He'll sit on Kyle's shoulders and flip backwards making your heart jump if you've never seen him do it before. Put hats, lids, hair ties, etc. on his head and say, "Hat, hat." (He doesn't always say it. When I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with him we had an "American Idol" type show and our special ed. team along with the principal and another teacher from the 2nd grade team performed a cute kids song Got A Hat Hat,) The other day we went outside our apt. he saw the hose and it sounded like he was saying water, water, water. When he drops things on the floor he'll say "Uh, oh". And sometimes it sounds like he is saying "What's that?" when he points to things. Dogs and Cats make him giggle and if the birds would stay still long enough he would chase them too. Best of all loves to cuddle and hates to let go when Kyle is leaving to teach in the morning. We love him so much and are grateful for the lessons he teaches us each day.

The Rose

2010-07-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Rose gardens are so enchanting. I love the delicious scent that whisks you off your feet as you walk by. Growing up my grandma and grandpa had an elegant rose garden in front of their home. Whenever we went there during the spring/summertime we would leave with a bouquet of roses from different hues of the rainbow. I loved them.
In the house that I lived in had a rose bush with gorgeous fire and ice roses that were breathtaking. They were the second best thing about the house the first were the good roommates that I had. I loved coming home and seeing the roses in bloom. Walking up the steps onto the porch was like walking into an enchanted garden. A visual awareness of the awesome wonders of the earth created just for us.
In June I went rollerblading and was noticing all of the beautiful flowers especially the roses. My grandma's and grandpa's birthday are during that month so I was thinking of them as well as trying to remember how to skate its been awhile. One of our friends in our ward recently moved into a house. As I rolled by I noticed a beautiful bush of yellow roses and yes I stopped to smell them. They were delicious. In my head I said I should go and ask them if I can have one to put in our home but I thought I better continue my ride before it gets to dark. The next day our dear neighbor brought over two of the roses that I was admiring. It was a little tender mercy. I was so grateful that she brought me those roses it was so sweet and was a highlight from my week. Thank you, Thank you.

Road Trip to Vegas

2010-05-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to get a picture with Warren and the temple for sometime now. As we drove down to Vegas we stopped at the temple for a little break.

While we were visiting Jessica and I took the kids to a water park it was quite fun to watch:)

We enjoyed being with Porter, John, Jessica, Grandpa and Grandma. We miss you we are glad to be back with Kyle and wished he could have come with us.

pictures to be posted later:)

2010-05-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

haPpY 1st BiRtHdAy WarReN!

We love you!

Love,

Mom and Dad

A breakfast pancake in the shape of the number 1.

This is the only time that we were ever able to put this Happy Birthday hat on his head without him wanting to take it off immediately after.

Playing with a toy that he got for his birthday.

I want some more!

Boy how you have changed!

Boston (This was awhile ago March 23-28)

2010-05-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Boston for the first time and loved it. It is a wonderful city. I was able to do a couple presentations, one on research in ESL writing conferences and the other on my MA project. Both were great experiences that helped me get my feet wet in the professional development world. The convention was great but I wasn't able to go to many other sessions because I was sick and tired a lot. The morning I flew to Boston Warren had his hernia surgery and we woke up early. Consequently I didn't get much sleep. I also didn't get sleep on the plane ride or the first night in the hotel because of different circumstances. I have had issues with mono a couple months ago and it felt like it had come back. So I spent most mornings sleeping in and getting rest and then going out later to the conference and listened to others' presentations. It didn't help that after the conference I tried to do as much as possible with colleagues around Boston and make the most of the trip. It was still amazing and beautiful around Boston. We were able to go to a Boston Celtics game, travel around the Freedom Trail, go to Harvard, and eat at a few different restaurants. The Boston cream pie is the best at the Omni Hotel. I was also able to bring home a Boston cream pie for Ila too! We traveled around using the subway system which was very easy to use and understand. This was my first trip were I was able to use a subway. It was fun watching and seeing so many different people. As if you can't tell I don't get out of Utah very often. I really loved it there. I would never drive there but I could live there and just use public transportation. Fortunately BYU paid for the most expensive parts of my trip because of the research and presentations. Thank you BYU! I can't wait to go back someday with Ila and Warren.

Happy Anniversary

2010-04-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Time to CELEBRATE

2 years

Easter Weekend

2010-04-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed watching and listening to conference and the wonderful messages that were given. We are so grateful for the access that we have to the internet that we can listen/watch the talks again and again. BYU TV already allows us to watch and hear the wonderful messages as well as listen to them from LDS.ORG.

We had a fun time between the Sunday morning and afternoon session up at the Johnson's. We enjoyed an Easter brunch and watching the grandkids go on an Easter egg hunt. Aunt Natalie helped Warren find some eggs. This is Warren enjoying the fruits of their labors.

He loved shaking the eggs. At one point one of the eggs broke open and he got his quick little hands on a jelly bean that made it into his mouth. I quickly removed the jelly bean much to his dismay. He has a sweet tooth already but is still toothless. He also enjoyed climbing up the stairs.

We are grateful for the Easter Season and the great significance that it plays in each of our lives. We are grateful for our Savior and know that he lives. We enjoyed this message He Lives for family home evening tonight.

Deleitaos en las palabras de Cristo, Feast upon the words of Christ

2010-03-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

Today we found Warren literally feasting upon the words of Christ. I walked into Warren's room and I saw him with a small piece of white paper in his mouth chomping away, you would have thought he was eating the most delicious physical food in the world. The corner of the title page of my Spanish Book of Mormon was in his hand slobbery and wet from him sucking on it. I removed the paper and the book quickly. This is the second book of Spanish scriptures that he has delighted in. I am glad that he was spiritually nourished today from hearing the scriptures earlier today as well as being able to touch and hold this amazing book in his hand. I am grateful that we have scotch tape again it is an amazing thing. More importantly the scriptures that we can feast upon.

Surgery Day

2010-03-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

I woke up Warren at 3:00 am to give him his last feeding before surgery. I then gave him some clear liquids too. He was so cute and was so talkative. Little did he know what was going to happen that day. We went back to sleep and woke up about an hour later to head up to Primary Children's extension at the Riverton Hospital.

We checked in at 6:15 am and they did a mini baby well check on him. He is 18 lbs. now. I can't remember how tall they said he was. We then waited till it was time for the surgery to take place in the waiting room. It had a great selection of toys and a bubble machine which was great for distracting Warren from his hunger. After our 30 min. wait we talked with the surgeon, Dr. B, and then met Dr. L, the Anesthesiologist, who was so kind and gave us words of which were like music to my ears, "We'll treat him like he's our own," this is what I needed to hear. Warren went right to Dr. L. and disappeared down the hall to surgery. Warren looked really cute in his hospital attire, though I wish he didn't have to wear it that day, dressups yes, for real no. We were escorted to another waiting room and were given a complimentary breakfast of bagels or muffins and hot chocolate. While we waited Dale came and got Kyle to take him to the airport so he could go to the TESOL conference in Boston. Right as Kyle and Dale left the parking lot the nurse came and told us that the surgery was completed. It took about 20 min. for the surgery from when we saw Dr. L take him. Dawn and I then waited in the waiting room until he started to wake up from the anesthesia. When he started to wake up the nurse came back to the waiting room took me to the first recovery room, where I found Warren crying at the top of his lungs:( My little heart strings were sure being tugged on especially when the nurses gave him to me to hold and he continued to cry, flail his arms, flip back, and climb me. He didn't know what was going on and found out that this is a normal reaction for babies. They told me that I could nurse him to calm him down and that worked for 2 minutes. We tried a bottle of glucose water too. It was sad to see. The nurses then called the Dr. and asked if they could give him more morphine and this helped, as well as standing up to hold him holding his head against my shoulder. With a little whimper all the while he calmed down and nestled in. During this time I remembered the blessing that Kyle gave to Warren and I the night before which brought peace, as well as, the prayers that were being offered for him. Eventually, they then moved us into another recovery area where we waited about 3 hrs. to make sure his vitals were all good. It took a while for his recovery because his breathing wasn't where it needed to be. It got better when we readjusted the position that I was holding him and later changing the position of where the chord was from his foot to his finger. We are very grateful to Mom(Dawn) and Dad(Dale) for being with us at the hospital. We spent the afternoon at the Johnson's until 3:30, when Warren was more alert and able to support his head a little better.

He slept on the way home. When we got home you wouldn't have known that he had had surgery. He was finding the outlets (don't worry they're covered) pulling himself up on the couch, the dishwasher door, the chairs, the entertainment center, crawling after me in the house, and escaping from me when I was trying to change his diaper. Much different from the little lethargic boy we took home from the hospital today. I think he began to feel some of the effects of the anesthesia because he kept on losing his lunch (liquids).

He slept for about four hours and then I felt like I had just brought a newborn home. He woke up about every 2 hours and we even played a little bit around 4:30. I prayed for energy to be alert for him. I am grateful for the little nap that I got today and am looking forward to going to bed very shortly. We played a lot today, took 2 walks, and visited some ward members, as well as, had a visit from one of my visiting teachers. Our Heavenly Father, our immediate family and our ward family have been mindful of us and we are so grateful for each one of you.

This Morning

2010-03-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

When Warren woke up this morning I just saw him looking into space and then he started talking to himself so I decided to capture the moment. It was so funny he started to jump up and down and eventually fell over backwards. It brought a smile to my face and I hope to yours too. Enjoy!

Rub a Dub Dub Warren loves the Tub(Sink)

2010-03-16T17:02:00.001-07:00

Bball

2010-03-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

Since December I have been playing in a basketball league. It has been a lot of fun! Our season ended last week with a loss to a team with Southern Virginia Alumni on it too. It was a nail biter towards the end. We came back to gain the lead by one and then they hit a 2 pointer to go up by one with 1.7 sec left on the clock. We were hoping for that "one shining moment" where there was a miraculous shot for the highlight reel. It was not so:( I was sad to be done, but at the same time I was glad because of Warren being sick this same week too. I hope to play next year too and join some my new friends and old during the week for a pick up game. I love this game!

Ear Infection

2010-03-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Last week Warren had a fever that ranged from 99 - 103 for a few days. We took him into the Dr. on the 5th and he had a bilateral ear infection. No fun for him! It was not fun to have him sick but I sure did enjoy the time that I got to spend holding him and cuddling him.

While we were at the Dr. we asked him to check a hernia that he has. When the Dr. saw it he immediately encouraged us to get him in for surgery within the next 10 days. We went up to the Primary Children's of Riverton on the 8th. The surgeon we met with looked at his hernia and said that Warren should have surgery. If it pokes out we need to try and massage it back into place. We scheduled his surgery for the 23rd of this month his 10 month birthday, what a way to celebrate. The whole process should take about 2 hours from the time we check in till the time that he wakes up from the anesthesia. We'll be able to take him home that day too. We're not sure of the time yet.

Kyle will leave for Boston this day too. I am glad that Kyle's and my family are near by.

Warren Exploren

2010-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

In honor of Read Across America and good ole' Dr. Suess

Would you like me over here

Or would you like me over there

I do like traveling so you see

Exploring is a job for me

Standing up is what I do

Lights are so fascinating too

If I find it on the floor

In my mouth it goes to explore

Pulling out laundry and paper out of boxes

Playing with all the white and dark soxes

Crawling for daddy is so much fun

Watch out world 'cause here I come

So you might find me here

Or there

Or you might find me everywhere

Soon to be walking all by myself

Without the aid of drawer, chair, or shelf

We love our little boy its true

And more and more when he sleeps the night through

We'll post pictures to this soon... finally got one we hope to get some others soon.

2010-02-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hope that you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Love, Kyle, Ila Anne and Warren

My Check Up Stats (I'm 7 3/4 months)

2010-01-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

We had Warren's checkup today. We originally had it scheduled for yesterday morning but when we went to leave the car wouldn't start, the battery was dead. I called to let them know that we would be late. One of our home teachers, Jake, came over and helped to jump start the Jeep. By the time we got there we were about 30 min. late and they said that we would have to take a no show fee. We explained again what had happened and the receptionist said she would talk to the Dr. they usually give you one freebie.

We are grateful that we found out about the battery sooner than later because Kyle would have been late to his class. Thank you Jake for your help!

Warren had a great time at the Drs. he was very talkative and wiggly. He weighed in at 16 lb. 14 oz. and is 26 in. tall. He is getting pretty close to crawling. As of now he scoots backwards and turns in circles. He loves jumping and standing. We are loving him and grateful to have him in our home.

Some of My favorite places to find out how to save /spend money

2010-01-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Freebies 2 Deals

You should sign up and get emails to find out how to get things for free, build up your food storage, etc... Malea is great! She posts multiple times a day.

Savvy Shopper

This was my first introduction to couponing. Last year Amy "The Savvy Shopper" came and spoke to our ward to teach us about how to save money. It was awesome! Before getting the paper I would go and use the site to help me shop the sales. The sales are even better now with coupons. I am very grateful for her and what she taught us that night. Thank you AMY!!! Thank you Kyle for chasing down the Boys and Girls Club who started us on our subscription and to my Mom and Dad for the extra paper and to the Daily Herald who we subscribe from(awesome customer service too)

If you are interested Alicia another Savvy Shopper is coming to our church to present about Savvy Shopping it is the 27th of January at 7:00 if you are interested please contact me and let me know.

Pinching Your Pennies

and others too

then there are the couponing websites a plenty, but by using these other websites they have links to them and maybe do your own search too. Everyone wants you to be their stuff coupons are extra incentives to do so along with rebates etc.. find a good sale make money off the rebate it is great!

Deal of the my day... 2 of them $0.94 at Albertsons (5 boxes of cereal, 8 yo plus yogurts, 2 skippy pb, 4 starkist tuna) + $5.00 to use on my next shopping trip and $5.00 in box tops for Rees Elementary

Steal 2 staples 2 reams of paper and a binder which will end up costing $2 no coupons for this one though

2009-12-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

Finals are done

The holiday is officially begun

Kyle doesn't feel well

Grateful he doesn't need a pail

By his bed

Just to rest his weary little head

I am playing in the PG (Pleasant Grove) Basketball league with a friend from college and some of her friends. It has been so much fun. The first game we played against a group of high school girls from American Fork. I enjoyed being on the court. The last time I really shot the ball was the day before I had Warren. I love playing and getting to know the other players on the team. This week we played another group of moms. We won the first and lost the second. The season will continue after the New Year. I need to practice.

Deal of the week 6 boxes of crackers a $1.88. (Triscuts, Wheat Thins) thank you Buy Low and a customer who shared a coupon with me.

I gave Warren a little trim again and left him with two very distinct hair cut lines, he still is as cute as a button. We are loving his smile more and more, his laugh, and his little dance, it is so stinkin' cute hopefully we can get it on camera one day so we can post it. When he wakes up in the morning he looks at this lamp that is in his room. I take him over to it so he can touch it and then I turn it on to see what he'll do. Today he let out this cute little laugh the first time we did it this morning, so I did it some more. Having him around is so much fun. Babies appreciate the small things and are so curious about the whats around them. It makes life so much more interesting.

We are looking forward to Christmas to spend time with family. Merry Christmas to you all!

Finals Week

2009-12-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

Let the party begin, almost. Kyle has finals this week, then one more semester. Last Friday we attended a closing social for the teachers at the ELC (English Language Center). There was a white elephant gift exchange we got velcro and wall mounting tape, I was really excited, they will be so useful. After the party we got in the jeep to go home. It didn't start... mmm... what was the matter? My dad came to pick us up and to take Warren and I home. My dad and Kyle returned to the jeep and got Triple AAA to tow it to the shop. (I am so grateful for them, they rescued Warren and I one day when I accidentally locked him in and me out.) They found out that the ignition was broken. We'll be back in business tomorrow. In the meantime my parents let us barrow their car. For which we have been tremendously grateful for many reasons. 1. We needed to get to church, I guess we could have walked. 2. Shopping at Walgreens. 3. More shopping. Thanks for letting us use the car!!!

Week in Review

2009-12-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Yeah, the first real snow of the year how exciting! On Saturday I was able to get 2 boxes of Special K Blueberry cereal for $.60, thanks to Smiths and coupons. I am so excited to try it! I went to a Relief Society activity too. We were able to go to the temple this week too, thanks to the Lind's for watching Warren for us. I was able to see a couple of the people that I worked with, which some I've been hoping to see for a long time. It is a sweet experience to talk with those sisters in the temple who have been such a great influence in my life. I also had an embarrassing experience this week too... yikes maybe I'll share it another day. I learned that there are some questions you don't ask. Warren tried sweet potatoes this week and is a big fan. He also earned the title of super soaker, launcher, or whale this week. One morning after feeding him he spit up just like usual but it was like there was a waterfall coming out of his mouth or like the water from a whale's spout. One of the cushions was damp for 4+ hours. Kyle is counting down the days till he is finished with this semester, making plans for the TESOL conference and his Master's project.

Books

2009-12-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

Last night I was reading to Warren, pages on books make such fun crinklely noises... thin page... Jacob 3 is going to be taped in now.. thank goodness for tape!

2009-11-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

We had a delightful Thanksgiving Day! We spent the morning at the Mills' and enjoyed dinner there with Mom, Dad, John's family, and Bub. Later we drove up to the Johnson's and filled our plates with pie... YUM... so many choices... Kyle hopes for more cream pies next year. Mom, Dad, the home clan, Snows, Snyders, and Lenny's crew were there when we arrived. What a fabulous time. We forgot the camera so no pictures, but lucky for us others did.

Kyle went shooting on Saturday and I went to the BYU vs. Utah game with my brothers John and Bub and John Wadley joined us too. The game was enjoyable.. and long... Thank you for watching Warren, Jessica and crew.

Warren had a first this week he rolled from his back to tummy. Yeah for growing boys!

Hair Cut #2

2009-11-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

Warren's First Laundry Duty...Socks

2009-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

While I was folding laundry this week Warren was doing what he does best reaching and grabbing. We'll work on the matching and folding some day.

2 Hour Project x ..... hrs.

2009-11-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to make a project for an up and coming family party. I thought this should only take 2 hrs. I took the design of a Halloween wall hanging that I made about 9 years ago and came up with a Christmas design on a smaller scale. A goal I had was to use material that I already had and not go to the fabric store. I almost did it, but I ended up going to buy some embroidery floss for detailing. Now it is the third day of the project and YES I finished. Kyle helped out with design elements and Warren helped by taking naps.

2009-11-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

2009-11-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here is our little guy cozy in his car seat. He likes it a lot

Happy Birthday too Me

2009-11-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Kyle for surprising me with some Roller Blades, CriCut blades, and thermals, yeah for being warm, as well as a date to dinner. Thank you Stephanie for watching Warren, sorry that he was tired and cranky for you. Thank you mom and dad, they are quite the chefs these days, for a delicious pre-thanksgiving feast for a birthday meal and the Thanksgiving decoration. Thank you siblings for my favorite birthday phone calls. Thank to my mother-in-law for the yummy popcorn that we can enjoy while watching movies or just to have around and the delightful card too. Thank you to birthday wishes that were sent via FB.

Blue Frame Photos

2009-11-05T05:34:00.001-08:00

Our brother-in-law, Tim, and his sister Michelle our starting a photography business and took some cute pictures of our family. Check out their other pictures and pricing at http://www.blueframephotos.com/

We'll post other pictures later.

Our little SUPERHERO

2009-10-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

The Kent Family, (Jonathan, Martha, and Clark aka... SUPERMAN)

Scary Cake II, the '09 Spider Spectacle

2009-10-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

I used a red velvet cake mix, chocolate frosting, tapioca pudding (thanks mom) licorice, rock candy, and coconut(toasted and colored)

Do your Ears Hang Low?

2009-10-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

This week I attempted to give Warren his first hair cut. The last time I ever gave anyone a hair cut was about 15 years ago. My brother asked me to cut/shave his head so he could have a sweet looking bowl cut. I had been doing it to my older brother's hair, of course he had already had a defined line. When I had finished one side was definitely higher then the other and I think I ended up having to shave the rest of it off because it looked so bad. Sorry John. Cutting a baby's hair is very tricky! It took about two rounds and Kyle's help when he came home to distract him and get him to look away. I only cut the side burns though because I like to give him a fohawk. While, as I have been nursing him the past few days I noticed some stray pieces of hair. Because it is still long on the top and I noticed it was longer in the back it looked like we were attempting to give him a mullet. Today I tried to even it out and decided that after Halloween maybe I'll cut the top. Here are some before and after shots. Notice the wings on the side of his head in the before shot. I'll edit the photos so they're facing the right way hopefully tomorrow.

Mommy's Staying Home

2009-08-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Mommy decided to stay home because I am so Adorable, Beautiful, a Cutie full of Charms, a Darling, Exciting, a Feather in her arms, etc.

These past few weeks I have been helping Mommy work on her IEP files and clean out her classroom. BOY she has a lot of stuff!!!!! I am so excited that she can stay home and read books to me, take me to the library, and sing preschool songs. Yeah for me!!!

There Were Three in the Bed

2009-08-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

There were three in the bed and the little one said roll over, roll over...
So they all rolled over and one fell out...
There were two in the bed and the little one said roll over, roll over...
So they all rolled over and one fell out...
There was one in the bed and the little one said...

Good Night!

AHH!!

2009-08-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

Among many things, one of my favorites is watching Kyle hold, make faces, or sounds to get Warren to smile.

This one is cute too.

Future Heisman Trophy Winner? Future Fireman?

2009-08-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

One day Mommy caught me posing.

I thought he was working on his Heisman pose so I couldn't resist.

Visiting Uncle Stephen at the Lehi Fire Station open house

Whatever he ends up doing in this life whether it be a football player, firefighter, or another occupation of choice, our greatest joy will be to see him serve others and gain a testimony of Christ and the other amazing principles of the gospel.

Blessing

2009-08-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Me,
WarReN cLinToN joHnSon,

named after two of my great grandpas.
(Don't I look handsome? Thanks to my cousin Porter for letting me use his tie and shirt.)

Mami and Papi

Grandma and Grandpa Mills

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Almost everyone who was able to be there that day.

My Mills cousins, aunts, and uncles were all in for a family reunion. It was great to have them there on this special day. I am grateful that Tim and Stephanie let us have a luncheon at their house after church that day. I am grateful to be here on Earth and for the blessing that I received. My first and not last blessing from my daddy. I look forward to asking for more in the years to come and know that they will help me.

First little Adventures

2009-06-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here Warren is at his second bath at home, hanging out with his green friend, and just chillin. He is a good little tike. We love 'em

2009-05-31T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Warren his first few days of life. The first picture is him in his little tanning bed at home to help with his yellow color, the next one is of his first bed at home, Ila and Warren at the hospital, and the last picture is of him and two of his nurses. This past week has been a lot of fun. Ila and Warren went to a dual baby shower that was planned for them and my sister-in-law Lindy and her little baby girl Lia. It was supposed to be before the two babies arrived but they wanted to come a month early. While they were there Stephen, Lexton (our 4 year old little nephew) and I went fishing at a pond next to the golf course by where the shower took place. We caught several large mouth bass. It was a lot of fun. We have had many visitors and friends stop by and we are grateful for their help. We are greatly blessed with good family and friends. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and services.

2009-05-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well the post before this one is very outdated. There are two more grand kids that came into the world this weekend. Lindy (my brother Lenny's wife) gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (Lia) early Friday at 12:01 am or something. Ila gave birth the next day at 9:00 am to a beautiful baby boy. In fact we were on the way to the Murry hospital to visit Lindy and Lia when Ila had a few contractions. They were very far apart and we didn't really think anything of it. In fact Ila asked me (like I really knew) what a contraction was supposed to feel like. I know there is pain involved and that your belly becomes hard.

Later that night around 10:30 Ila continued to have contractions that continued every 5 minutes. We called her doctor and he said it could be false labor. Ila was not due until June 20th. I was sure it was false labor. I wasn't taking it serious.

At 2:30 am after several hours of helping Ila breath and having contractions 3 minutes apart we called the doctor again and he had us go to the hospital in Payson. I still thought it was false even when the nurse said she was dilated to a 3. But the nurse decided to admit her. Ila continued to go one number hire in dilation each hour or two.

Finally at about 7:30 the doctor broke her water and around 8:15 she began to push. At 9:00 she gave birth to little Warren Clinton Johnson, 5 lbs 14 oz., 20 inches long. I guess it wasn't false labor. Like a bullet he literally shot out. (the doctor had to catch him) Thus his first nickname "the little bullet". All the nurses and especially the doctor were surprised at how fast he came out. I swear he flew at least a foot to the doctor. Fortunately the doctor was close and had a hand on the top of his head before he came. It was the craziest thing ever.

Ila didn't have the epidural, she wanted to try natural. Ila did so well with the entire process that several nurses thought she had the epidural and were amazed that she never made a peep. In fact I think she fell asleep during a few contractions when we first got to the hospital. The nurses said she should be on those videos that promote birth so as to show that giving birth isn't that bad.

On a side note, the first nurse, Suzanne, who admitted us was also the nurse that helped deliver Ila when she was a baby.

Well we should be returning home Tomorrow if everything goes as planned. The doctor says he is good size for being born a month early.

We have been blessed greatly by this healthy little boy and feel in aw that we have been given such great responsibility in raising him up unto the Lord. We know that we are blessed and will be given the strength to do what is necessary and right for him. This is such a miracle of miracles.

2009-05-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well here is a small update. This is a picture during Easter at my mom and dads place when almost all the grand kids were together. Only one was missing. We had a lot of fun trying to get everyone to pose. I think this is the only one where the grandparents were looking at the camera. Turns out it wasn't the kids that had the hard time taking this picture.

Everything else is going well for us. Ila is getting bigger and ready to deliver in a few weeks. She has a couple weeks left of school and she will be done for the year. I am taking a class at BYU. I am also getting paid to teach English. It is kind of funny because they gave me the academic writing class level 5 which is one of the last classes students take before entering University level classes.

It is softball season and I have already messed my shoulder up. I got into a little pickle and had to slide into second only to land funny. My shoulder didn't hurt much during the game just felt a little weird. In fact I even hit a home run (which I haven't done all season) After the game though it really hurt and I couldn't sleep all night. I could barely raise my arm. I hate getting hurt. I can raise my arm all the way now. I do like to complain though. ;)

We have been blessed with a lot of help lately getting baby clothes. Ila's parents and other family bought us several outfits that look really good. We also stopped at a couple of garage sales and picked up a couple outfits. We have really been blessed. Thank you all. We still have some things to get mainly a car seat which we will buy new. We feel better about buying a new car seat and getting everything else used. Summer has been fun so far. We are looking forward to the family reunions and camping. Hopefully we get to go.

2009-04-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ok my new goal is a weekly post! Short update: I was officially accepted into the MA. I will finish next April. Also I have been hired at the English Language Center to teach Applied grammar level 5. uuuuhhh?! I don't know about that assignment but it will be a really good assignment and I will gain a lot of teaching experience. This is the highest grammar level at the ELC and I am sure most students know the grammar better than I do. Ila's Spring break ends today and she goes back to teaching at her school tomorrow. (by the way "to" "morrow" used to be a phrasal verb seperating the "to" from the noun, same with "tonight") Other great Ila news, she passed the PRAXIS test. Wahoooooooooooooooooooo! This past week was Spring Break for Ila. She spent a lot of the time cleaning the second bedroom of our apartment in order to get ready for the little one. I studied for my final, which I took yesterday, and the rest of the time we enjoyed by watching Ila's stomach look like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, because Warren moves all over the place making her look very mishappen. Mishappen in a good way ;).

2009-04-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

The moment we have been all waiting for; "Ila actually showing that she is pregnant" pictures. With only 2 months left we have more belly to show off to our fellow Ward members and friends. For a little update we are doing very well as the semester comes to close. Ila will be on spring break and I have only one final.(wahoooooooooo!) Spring semester starts in a few weeks and I will probably be getting a paid teaching spot at BYU's English language center. At least it will be one class for one semester. My project is lining up nicely and we will know if it is accepted in about two to three weeks.

Happy Easter everyone and we hope we all remember what the season is really about. Today in church we heard several very well done talks. In one of these it was mentioned that we can look at the symbolism of eggs on Easter as parts of our testimony and that we are continually searching and growing our testimony much like when little kids go searching for eggs on Easter. The speaker further explained how as the eggs are meant to be found so are our testimonies and that according to our level the eggs are hidden. Those who are younger often have less difficult and more open ways of finding their eggs where as the older children's eggs are more hidden. Much of this can be related to the gathering of our testimonies throughout our lives. We too must search out and find truth and our testimonies on our own. They are meant to be found but we must work for them and that often gets a little more difficult as we get older. we express out love and testimonies of this wonderful season and know that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer. We love you all. Kyle & Ila (Warren sends his love through kicks and movement)

Super Update

2009-03-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, This is long over due and we are sorry for not letting more people know. If you can't tell by these pictures Ila is pregnant. We originally didn't say anything because we had a slight scare at the 2 month mark. Turned out to not be serious. So we didn't tell anyone because we weren't sure if there would be a miscarriage. Well that was the excuse 4 months ago. Since then we have just been busy. It's a boy. Sweet. We are naming him Warren after my (Kyle's) grandpa. He is due June 20th. (Buttar's isn't your b-day the 20th?) Most people in our ward just found out too, so don't feel bad we left out everyone. Part of the reason for this is because Ila is taking her sweet time showing her belly. It really isn't very big. Only in the last month has she really started to show. We are nervous and excited as most of you have experienced this and know the emotions. So any pointers would be appreciated. I already heard about the cold air hitting the little guy when changing diapers and having a good stream flying through the air.

We have also been a little more busy then usual. Ila took a PRAXIS test. so she was studying hard for that. She took it last week and we find out if she passed in about 3 weeks. I have just finished a teaching practicum course that took a lot of my time. Now I only have one class the rest of the semester. FREEDOM!!! This week I am heading to Denver for a TESOL conference. I have been applying for the MA TESOL program. The program here has been going through a major overhaul and my thesis proposal was rejected because they felt it would take longer then a year but they still wanted me in the program. Now I am submitting a project proposal. Which is turning out to be a much better course then the thesis route and a huge blessing. I am also working for a research group getting paid to do some of the easiest and most boring work ever. J/k It is really interesting but can get tiresome after awhile. I listen to non-native speakers of English as they repeat sentences they have just heard from a native speaker. I mark whether or not they say each syllable correctly. All my work is on-line from home with ear phones and the click of a mouse. Man if I would have known I could get paid more doing this then working for my old man I would have done this years ago. J/k I miss working outside and actually doing some physical work.

Ila has been working crazy hours the last few weeks. She got home the other night late because of parent teacher conferences. She is enjoying the Relief Society. She puts all her extra effort into enrichment activities. I get stuck in our bedroom when the activities are held here. I just don't want to get in between the sisters and their enrichment so I hide in our room. (I still hear them giggling though) Our ward and neighbors are great. In fact I tutor our 12 year Korean neighbor boy with his English. His mom makes us Korean food ever time I tutor. I guess they feel like they need to pay us somehow. It is pretty good food most the time.

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Today we went up to Mama and Papa Johnson's house and made gingerbread houses. Kyle did a great roofing job and I did the landscaping. It was fun to see most of the family there enjoying the Holiday season. Pictures will be posted on later date.

2008-12-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

The Scariest Cake

2008-10-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is our cake that we made for our Ward Halloween Party.

Halloween FHE

2008-10-27T21:23:00.001-07:00

Let the games begin

2008-10-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

I was the lucky one who got to dig out all the good stuff:)

2008-10-27T20:33:00.001-07:00

We took turns drawing the eyes, noes, and mouth... ta da

The Ring...

2008-09-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

This Thursday I was organizing school papers and working on one of the many projects that I have. After working on my project I cleaned up my mess. The next day when I was getting ready for school I could not find my ring. I knew it was somewhere in the house so I didn't worry too much, so I went on my merry way to school. When I got home I let Kyle know that he should keep his eyes open for my ring, for those who don't know me that well I am notorious for misplacing items, so he didn't worry too much. On Saturday, I decided that I needed to clean everywhere to see if I could uncover it in any unlikely spot that I might have placed it. During the midst of all the cleaning I said little prayers to myself that I might be able to recall where I had placed it. After all the cleaning had been done I still had not found it. I was a little worried. Kyle tried to walk me through my week to see if anything would come back to my memory. The only thing that I could remember was that I had put it on my finger with the band separate from the ring.(It's a little bit more loose when you do this) After I got home from the Relief Society Broadcast, which was amazing, Kyle and I started to search again. He asked if I might have accidentally thrown it away as I was cleaning, as it might have fallen in with some papers. Kyle went out to the trash receptacle to get two smaller bags that we had thrown away that day. Opening the trash we didn't see it in there. That night Kyle prayed that we might find it. It was a very sweet faith filled prayer. That night and on this morning in individual prayer the thought was to again look in the trash but this time in a larger trash bag that I had put into the trash receptacle on Friday morning. After church we came home and had our hometeachers over. They prayed for us too and even offered to look behind every book to see if there was any place that we had missed. As they were leaving Kyle left to go do his hometeaching. When he came back he brought in our trash bag to look through it. Tender mercies and miracles happen there it was on a napkin both prices laying side by side between some papers. Luckily he didn't have to dig very far. (I consider this the second blessing it was really stinky) We felt very blessed and knelt down and thanked our Heavenly Father that we had found the ring. I guess it had slipped off my finger while I was throwing things away and hadn't noticed because I was rushing to get it done. We know prayers are answered.

2008-08-13T10:14:00.000-07:00

On our way back home we stopped at Tuachan and saw Les Miserables.

Vacation

2008-08-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

As we were driving to John and Jessica's (Henderson, NV) we stopped to switch drivers and found a hidden treasure.

2008-08-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

Kyle and His Brothers

2008-08-10T15:40:00.001-07:00

Ila and Her Brothers

2008-08-10T15:33:00.001-07:00

2008-08-10T15:25:00.001-07:00

April 11, 2008

2008-08-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wedding Announcement Photos

2008-02-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

2008-02-09T08:51:00.001-08:00

Here is one of our pictures. Tim, Steph, and Jocelyn were wonderful photographers.

2008-01-18T23:22:00.000-08:00

what am i doing april 11th? Just think grandma will be happy! yup that is right i'm getting married to ila anne a lovely little bambi.